PANDORA AND PERCY STARED up at the ceiling of the compartment, having another dream about their moms and the weird lantern guy, they stayed silent for a moment, hearing the light snores of daphne and grover.

The seven of them all stayed in a compartment, daphne on top with grover's arm thrown over her face and leah nearly falling off, midas and annabeth on the bottom, staring blankly at ceiling and percy and pandora on the floor.

Percy exhaled heavily, "Hey, you asleep?" he said quietly, "Yes." Annabeth said after a moment.

"You and thalia were really close, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." Percy stayed quiet before speaking up. "What was she like?"

"Why?" She questioned, "She was the last forbidden kid before us, right? She must've dealt with the same kind of stuff."

"She was tough. I mean, she knew she was a forbidden kid, she just didn't care. When luke, thalia and leah found me, luke and leah cared for me right away. But thalia..she made me earn it."

"Is that why you give us a hard time?" Pandora spoke up, "We gotta earn it with you too?" Annabeth sighed deeply. "Yeah. Maybe."

"I gotta say, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

"What doesn't make sense to you?"

"The way you guys all talk. The way the gods want us to think. Gotta burn an offering to get a parent's attention. Gotta beat up on clarisse just to get our fathers to admit they're our fathers. It isn't supposed to work that way. People who are close to you aren't supposed to treat you that way."

"you wanna know i ended up alone on the road in the first place?" Annabeth asked. "i started out as a gift to my father. That's how it works with athena. We're born from a thought in her mind, and then given to a partner she feels connected to. And for a while, i was treated like a gift. My father cared for me. He loved me. I knew it."

"Then he met a woman. They had their own kids. And to her, I—I wasn't a gift. I was a problem. So i left. I was seven. It isn't the gods who think that way. It's everybody. But at least with the gods you know the rules. Show them respect and they'll be in your corner, no matter what."

Grover groans, "You guys are depressing." Daphne now spoke up, midas let out a soft laugh, "You guys awake?" Percy asked.

"Well, i am now. Thanks."

"Grover, get your hand—" The satyr kept his hand on daphne. "Are you two okay..?"

"He's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough sleep."

"He's super grouchy when he doesn't get enough..' Nah!" Grover mimics, daphne groans, trying to get his hand off. "Wow."

"You've never been on the road with him before. A little different than a froofy boarding school."

"Who's froofy? You're froofy. What's froofy? I think i need to eat." He slaps daphne's face, making her let out a yell and leah sat up quickly, hitting her head on the ceiling.

"Maybe we should've gotten two compartments."

"Two days until we reach Los Angeles. Plenty of time before our deadline to reach the underworld." Percy hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"Can i ask a dumb question?" Annabeth tilted her head, "It's like you need me to make fun of you." Pandora snorted, percy sending her a glare.

"Shoot." Grover looked at him, "We've never been to Los Angeles before." He gestures between him and his sister. "I'm guessing neither of you have been to los angeles. So, how will we have any idea where we're going?"

"You do realize me and midas are children of the underworld, right..?" Daphne said, looking at the boy,

"Okay, but that's doesn't mean—" She cut him off.

"And you do realize i said i was tired of being down there, right..?" Percy stared at her, sighing in annoyance he turned back to the others.

"That's step 37, and we're still on step four. Cross that bridge when we get there."

"Okay, so..follow-up stupid question." Pandora spoke up, "Dude." Annabeth sighed, shaking her head.

"Okay, meanie." Midas and percy shared a look, daphne rolled her eyes, "Meanie? is that all you can come up with? Where's the good comebacks." Pandora turned to her.

"I don't like how i'm being jumped."

"No one's jumping you!" Percy glanced at her, "Shut up, wannabe aquaman." The boy glared at her and she gave him a grin, leaning on her arms as she turned back and looked at annabeth.

"Okay, wannabe superman." Pandora looked back at him, moving back in a offensive manner, "Guys, back to the conversation!" Daphne clapped her hands, getting their attention.

"Okay, wannabe scarlet witch." Leah tilts her head, then shakes her head, "I don't think they're similar, sparky." Annabeth discreetly rolled her eyes at the nickname, she ignored the tight knot in her stomach and said.

"Can we just get back to the conversation?" Midas and daphne gave each other a side glance, noticing how her mood changed so quickly.

"Well, i was saying..and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end.' Back in jersey, we told you the oracle said this quest would fail. And no one's mentioned it since. Seems like something we oughta be taking a little more seriously.." She trailed off as she glanced out the window.

"Hey." Mouth agape, she stares out the window then looks at the others, "Look at that." she turns back to the window, grover smiles at the sight. "Are those.."

"Centaurs." Four centaurs run along besides the train, percy glances around. "No one even knows they're there."

"There used to be herds of them everywhere." Grover said, staring out the window, "What happened to them?" Percy questioned. "Humans."

Pandora and Percy stared at him confusedly, The satyr sighed and looked down. "A few thousand years ago, the god of the wild, pan, disappeared." He looked at them before looking back out the window.

"And ever since, without pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it."

"The bravest satyrs volunteer to become searchers, trying to find pan." Midas glanced at grover. "None have ever returned."

"Your uncle we found in medusa's, ferdinand." Percy stared at grover for a moment, "He was a searcher?" He asked, grover nodded, avoiding his eyes.

"The oracle didn't say the quest would fail." They looked at annabeth, "Fail to save what matters most.' That could mean a lot of things. That's how prophecies work, that's how fate works. It could mean a lot of things."

"The harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. Sometimes, you've gotta just let it come to you when it's ready." Percy nodded slowly.

"Excuse me." The seven of the looked up, seeing a man dressed as an officer, "Can i see your tickets, please?" Annabeth fishes into her backpack, she hands the man their tickets.

He eyes the tickets, then the children, "You're in cabin 17B?" The demigods all share a look.

The man then all led the seven to their cabin, They all look inside, seeing the window glass broken, the cabin completely ransacked.

"Oh my zeus. Who did this shit." Daphne peaked inside, her mouth agape as she stared at the broken window.

"i hope he strikes you down." Midas mutters, still looking inside the cabin, "You wanna explain." They all glanced to the officer.

"Wait, wait, wait. You can't think that we did this." Leah spoke up, "Did you?" He looked at them, "Oh, yeah. Sure, we trashed our own freaking cabin!" Daphne exclaimed, her words laced with sarcasm.

"I mean...how? and why?" Percy said, agreeing with daphne, "Sir, when we left to get breakfast, everything was intact. We don't know how this happened."

"We got a witness here, says she heard the window smash, and then heard children's voices." Midas rolled his eyes, "And you believe her? have you actually even seen her on the train?"

The officer stared at him, "Can you tell me what time you left the cabin?" Annabeth looked back inside their cabin. "Are we under arrest?"

"I don't think you wanna take that time with me, little girl." Annabeth glares up at the officer, "Are we under arrest?" She asked again.

"So we're just killing time 'til we find out that guy's a werewolf or something, right?" Percy leaned forward and talked lowly. "I don't think he's a monster."

"Hard to say."

"Well, if he's not a monster, what's going on here? Why would anyone tear our room apart?" Percy questioned, "Maybe they were looking for something."

"We don't have anything."

"The people who think you stole zeus's master bolt might disagree."

"Right." He muttered, "i smell something fishy, and that smell is coming from that woman over there." Daphne nodded to the woman talking to the officer, midas nodded in agreement.

"She wasn't even in any of the compartments." They turned to him, "And how do you know that?" Leah asked.

"Because i checked." He looked at them, confused by all the eyes on him, "You do know that's creepy, right?" Midas rolled his eyes.

"Well, look, they're not gonna find something we don't have."

"Either way, we aren't spending the day answering questions in the St. Louis police station. We need to get out of this before we get delayed." The woman taps her shoulder.

"Fishy lady is here, i repeat, fishy lady is here." Daphne muttered, The woman sighs, putting down a small pet carrier as the seven stared at her. "You poor dears."

She takes a seat in daphne, percy and pandora's section, "Woah, woah." pandora pushes the two into the window, "Can't you sit over there..?" The jackson pointed to the other seat.

"Your parents aren't here, are they?" She asked, ignoring pandora's question which made her huff and scoot away even more.

"That sounds targeted." Leah said, glancing out the window, "Isn't that right, precious?" The woman turned to the whining dog, daphne made up her face in disgust.

"I hate little dogs, those are demons."

"Don't children get scared when they're all alone?" The seven eye each other as the woman turned back to them, "It's okay. I'm a mom. I know how scared you must be." She turns to the cop.

"Excuse me. Would you mind giving us a little space? I think.. i think you're making them nervous." The officer leaves them and the woman turned back to the seven.

"Can you give us some space?" Pandora gestures to her, percy and daphne, all squished in the seat, "I want you to know.. i don't actually think that you made that mess back there. I just wanted a moment alone with you."

"There are some things i need you to understand—"

Grover furrows his brows, looking at her jacket, the satyr tilted his head. "You have something on your jacket. It looks like.. It looks like glass."

The woman's smile faded, she tilted her head, "No one smashed out the windows from inside our cabin. Someone smashed them in from the outside." She blinks at grover. "Hm. Oh! Yes, sweetheart."

"Oh, she's more than fishy.." Daphne muttered as the woman turned to the small carrier, "I know, i know. You're impatient."

Her nose wrinkles, "Oh! But we're almost there." She smiles and stands, shaking her head at the seven, "This isn't your fault. But sadly, you're going to have to bear the burden of your parents' mistakes today."

"Listen, lady." Percy started, eyeing the woman, "I don't know who you are, but i think i know what you are. We've run across a few monsters like you and we've sent them all packing." The woman scoffed out a laugh.

"Monsters like me?" She put a hand over her chest, looking up with a smile before looking back down at them, "Well... of course they're like me. They were my children."

Percy and Pandora glanced at each other as the gears turned in annabeth's head, "Children? What does that mean?" Pandora questioned as midas looked at the woman.

"The mother of monsters."

"Echidna." Annabeth and midas said in sync, the woman chuckled softly, tilting her head as she smirked at them, "Oh, wonderful." leah muttered, the carrier next to echidna shakes and the thing inside growled.

"Oh!" She placed her hand on the carrier and shushed it, Annabeth's hand rested on her bag where her dagger was, "Monster. It's an odd word, considering my grandmother is your great-grandmother, and this has always been a family story. But.. to my eye, the demigod is the more dangerous creature." She gestured to the six demigods.

"Disruptive." The jackson siblings share a wary look as the woman talked, "Violent. If i exist for anything, it is to stand in the way of monsters like you. My little one here. She's just a pup now. Bless her heart." She chuckled.

"That doesn't sound like a puppy." Pandora commented, echidna turned to them, "Today.. you will be her prey." She raises her brow with a smile.

"Are you afraid yet?" She questioned, "Actually, no. That little thing won't do anything." Daphne scoffed, eyeing the carrier, "Oh. It's all right, dear. Fear is natural." She looked at daphne. "It's also essential to the hunt."

"Your fear. Your doubt. Your confusion." Annabeth and midas slowly pulled out their weapons, "I needed you to understand what was happening so that she could track the scent."

Percy and pandora slowly glanced to the carrier as the zipper slowly slides up, "So that she could learn and grow, because..that's what a good mother does for her children. Not that you would know."

"That feels targeted again." Daphne muttered, The carrier fully opens, and echidna grins, "You should run now." A giant serpent burst from the carrier, striking pandora and percy, annabeth stabs the tail.

"No, sweetheart!"

"Go!" Annabeth looked back at the others who quickly got out of their seats, and sprint down the train with annabeth behind. "You! Stop!" The officer yelled, chasing after them.

Percy burst through a door, followed by the others, the seven continued down the train, annabeth turns back to the door and loops a chain between the handles.

"Hey!" The cop yelled as they tried to open the door, grover turned to pandora, "Dory, Percy." He picked off thin needles off their shirts. "Come back here and open this door!"

"What? What is that? Is it poisonous?" Percy asked, glancing at them, "It's a stinger." Midas looked at the needle, "Grover, do you know what kind of monster has one of those?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know. I mean, nothing good probably."

"I can name a few." They all looked to daphne, "What? don't rush me. I have to rack my brain—" She paused, and thought for a moment. "There's uh— pit scorpion, the chimera, and the manticore. That's all i have."

"Are they all poisonous?" Percy asked, "Well, probably." Daphne shrugged, "Do you feel okay?" Annabeth turned to pandora and percy.

"I think so. Why? Oh my god, i am going to die? Are we gonna die?" She glanced at all of them, "I'm not sure." Percy furrowed his brows. "You're—You're not sure? Excuse me." He said, more worried about his sister than himself.

"No—i mean, you won't die." Annabeth corrected herself.

"Come on." The lights flicker as the train wobbles, the seven turn back, eyes wide as they stared down the corridor they came down, "Oh, we gotta go! move! move!" Pandora uttered out as something huge slammed against the door.

They run off the train quickly, outside they bolt across rows of tracks, they look back at the halted train, "Why isn't it still chasing us?" Percy questioned.

"Echidna said whatever she was hiding in that carrier, it's young. It won't venture far from her mother. She's learning to hunt.. and this seems like the hunting part."

They all now walk down an alleyway, "We aren't gonna be able to outrun them for very long." Grover glanced at them, "We don't need to. We just need a safe place to hole up."

"Some place safe. Any ideas where we might find one of those?" Percy questioned, "I do. A sanctuary, dedicated to athena, built by one of her demigod children a long time ago." Annabeth stated.

"There is an athenian temple hidden somewhere in the middle of downtown St. Louis?" Grover questioned.

"Yes." Annabeth's gaze drifts up, "Cept' it's not all that hidden." They all glance up at an arch.

They now walk past a circular fountain, "Ifs 630 feet wide, 630 feet tall, both to within an inch. It's got no internal support. Each side is balanced perfectly against the other. The arch is held up by symmetry. It's held up by math." Annabeth explained as they walked down the stairs.

"And it's earthquake-proof, so poseidon can't ruin it." They walked past a group of school kids, "Nice." Percy commented. "Excuse me. This is how you show athena your love. A monument to the power of perfection."

"It's a monument to some other stuff, too." They eye a bison's skull, "You're talking about what some humans want this place to be about. I'm talking about what it actually is."

"Whatever." Grover looked away from her, "We're safe here, right?" He asked, leah drifting away them the group, looking at stuff.

"No monsters can enter. Not even echidna. We're safe."

"Great. Well, since our train exploded, i'm gonna see if there's another one we can get tickets on. We can't stay here forever." He glanced at a mural where two men were hunting a bison. "Just because we're prey, doesn't mean we need to be helpless."

Daphne slipped away silently as it became too 'personal' and went and find leah, Grover shoots annabeth a look then walks away.

"He doesn't like it when people mess with animals." Pandora said, watching the satyr walk away, "Yeah. I know." Percy and his sister both looked at midas and annabeth.

"I shouldn't have s—snapped at him, i just.." She sighed, "I know." Percy blinked, shrugging his shoulder as he tried to come up with another subject.

"So, this is your mom's place? Wonder if she's around." The boy looked away, "Be right down! Just going to the potty!" He talks from the corner of his mouth.

Midas let out a snort, he and annabeth share a look before laughing, "Nice." Percy shrugged, "I have a gift." Pandora shook her head and muttered. "No you don't."

"Like you could do it." Percy glanced at her, rolling his eyes, "All i have to do is mock an accent, Stupid." He glared at his sister.

"I'm not stupid, you're stupid." Annabeth and midas shook their heads and laughed at their bickering.

"I guess you were right, by the way. We needed a safe place, and your mom had one waiting. Pretty lucky we happened to be in the right city for it." Annabeth scrunches her brow.

"Luck or fate?" Annabeth turns away, "I know you think it's all just in my head. That..that i tell myself my mother cares because it's easier that way." The siblings shook their heads.

"We didn't say that." She cocks a brow at them.

"Look, we've only been demigods since.." Pandora trailed off, thinking about it, "Last saturday. You shouldn't listen to us."

"You know, this is my mother's place, but a temple is a temple. Maybe you could say hi to your dads while we're here." Percy and Pandora share a look.

Pandora's shoulders sink and her lips tighten at the mention of her father, "No thanks." Percy spoke for the both of them, Midas finally joined the conversation, looking at them. "What could it hurt?"

"Your thing with your mom.." She paused, looking at midas, "We're cool. sometimes." He said, getting the hint and pandora nodded slowly.

"We get it. It's different. It works for you guys. But our fathers..." She shook her head, "We don't want anything from them. They've had their chances. Honestly, you two have done more for me and percy in the past for days than our fathers have done in our entire lives. If we have to stick with someone, I—" She froze for a moment.

"Careful. I think you were about to call us friends."

Percy and pandora's lips part, as their knees started to grow weak, "Somewhere around here the oracle is laughing at us, but you know—" The two collapsed and midas and annabeth quickly caught them. "Percy! Pandora!"

"You know, i don't feel too good." Pandora muttered.

The two stayed on the floor as the others came rushing over, "Hey! What happened?" Grover asked, "I think...I think those stinger things were poisonous." Percy said, short of breath.

"I have an idea. Come on, Help me. Okay." The five lifts them.

They find themselves back outside and in the fountain, splashing water on percy as pandora sat on the edge of the fountain, daphne waving her arms, trying to create air.

"The water cured him back at camp, it should work for poison too, right—" Annabeth glanced at daphne and leah, "What are you doing?" She questioned.

"What? You said air cured her so i'm creating air!"

"There was a storm." Midas looked at her, standing behind percy, "Oh." She stopped moving her arms, frowning as she stood up straight. "Then you should've told me that. Got me waving my arms like a crazy person."

"You know, i think it's— I think it's working. This was a great call." Percy started to stand up but falls back down. "Or not."

"Maybe it needs to be naturally running water for Poseidon to be able to heal him." Midas said, looking at them.

Annabeth got out of the fountain, and stood next to daphne and looked at pandora, "And maybe you could make a storm? or use the electricity in your body to heal yourself?" Pandora shook her head, a car honking behind them on the street and cars crashing.

"I—" They all glanced back at the street, seeing a car somersaults down the street, "Okay. We need to get back inside." Annabeth looked at the others.

"No, we need to keep trying." Grover argued, "This isn't working, grover, and she's coming." Leah pointed out, They glanced back again to see echidna slowly stepping toward them.

"Okay, look, we'll take them inside, and we'll go to the temple's alter." Grover stood up, "Alter? where is there an alter?" He questioned. "The highest point, the best view."

"Okay, but what good is that even gonna do us?"

"We're gonna get to the alter and we're going to ask my mom for help." Percy looked at annabeth, "I thought we don't ask for help." Pandora nodded in agreement."

Annabeth turned to echidna, "Come on, let's get moving." Midas and grover lifted percy and daphne and leah helped pandora off the edge of the fountain.

The six make their way to the building, annabeth turns, echidna strolls forward. "Guys, d—did you hear that?"

They looked back at her, "Hear what? Don't tell me you're going crazy, beth." Leah said, as annabeth shook her head and followed them. "Never mind. Come on."